A growing number of Australian GPs have reported being subjected to frivolous or vexatious complaints to the health regulator about social media posts opposing Israel’s war in Gaza.
Dr Michael Wright, president of the Royal Australian College of General Practitioners (RACGP), wrote to the Australian Health Practitioner Regulation Agency (Ahpra) on 14 August about “concerning reports” from multiple members of the college who had “publicly expressed views on the deteriorating humanitarian situation in Gaza”.
The GPs were subjected to complaints to Ahpra after “expressing opinions, including those of a political nature, on social media, or participating in activities criticising the treatment of civilians in Gaza”, the letter said.
The letter said RACGP members advised that the resulting investigations had tied up doctors for months, but ultimately they had incurred no disciplinary action.
Noting the “growing number of complaints about social media activity linked to the conflict in Gaza”, the RACGP asked Ahpra to “commit to fast-tracking the assessment and finalisation of complaints of this nature”.
The college also asked Ahpra to elevate the prominence of its guidance on what constitutes reportable social media activity, including making “a proactive statement” on its complaint information page, which now contains no obvious reference to a practitioner expressing personal views on social media.
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The college had longstanding concerns about prolonged Ahpra investigations and the toll unresolved complaints and drawn-out investigations took on the mental health of practitioners, the letter said.
“Every effort must be made to improve the timeliness of investigations to minimise the harm caused to practitioners, particularly where a complaint is made vexatiously or deemed frivolous by Ahpra,” the letter said.
This week, Guardian Australia reported that the high-profile physician Dr Stephen Parnis had stepped down from his role as chair of the board of the Medical Insurance Group of Australia (Miga) in an apparent response to concerns about his social media posts opposing the war in Gaza.
A letter-writing campaign to Miga in support of Parnis noted that the medical board’s code of conduct acknowledged the rights of doctors to express their personal views in line with their ethics, and said the matter raised “questions about whether … Miga will support its members who are targeted by vexatious complaints”.
Miga declined to comment on the circumstances of Parnis’s resignation, but its acting chair, Prof Owen Ung, said Miga respected the rights of members to hold and express personal and diverse views, and that it supported, represented and advocated for all its members, regardless of identity.
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Ahpra’s social media guidance for medical practitioners says: “Registered practitioners will not be investigated purely for holding or expressing their views on social media.”
It contains examples of posts that would not usually warrant regulatory action, such as advocating for a peaceful resolution of a war or conflict, urging the protection of health workers and health facilities caught in a conflict or war, or calling for accuracy, truth and impartiality in reporting on a conflict or war.
Wright told Guardian Australia prolonged investigation processes by Ahpra could cause “undue stress and reputational harm” to practitioners.
“The RACGP agrees with Ahpra’s statement that practitioners should not be investigated for expressing their personal views on social media,” he said.
A spokesperson for Ahpra and its national boards confirmed that it had received the letter from the RACGP, and said notifications had been made to Ahpra about practitioners covering “a range of political views expressed on social media”, including allegations of antisemitism and Islamophobia.
“We are carefully reviewing social media use in line with our assessment process and expect to be able to respond to individual concerns quickly,” the spokesperson said. “This includes taking into account the significant distress felt by practitioners concerned about the safety of individuals within the Jewish and Palestinian communities in Israel and Gaza.”
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